Three-Dimensional Chaotic Advection by Mixed Layer Baroclinic Instabilities

AbstractThree-dimensional (3D) finite-time Lyapunov exponents (FTLEs) are computed from numerical simulations of a freely evolving mixed layer (ML) front in a zonal channel undergoing baroclinic instability. The 3D FTLEs show a complex structure, with features that are less defined than the two-dimensional (2D) FTLEs, suggesting that stirring is not confined to the edges of vortices and along filaments and posing significant consequences on mixing. The magnitude of the FTLEs is observed to be strongly determined by the vertical shear. A scaling law relating the local FTLEs and the nonlocal density contrast used to initialize the ML front is derived assuming thermal wind balance. The scaling law only converges to the values found from the simulations within the pycnocline, while it displays differences within the ML, where the instabilities show a large ageostrophic component. The probability distribution functions of 2D and 3D FTLEs are found to be non-Gaussian at all depths. In the ML, the FTLEs wavenumb...

• Publication year

  2015

• Venue

  Journal of Physical Oceanography

• Publication date

  2015-11-06

• Fields of study

  Physics, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1175/JPO-D-15-0121.1arXiv 1511.02087
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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